So I have a 1955 Chevy truck with a 235 and Fenton intake and exhaust. My accelerator linkage got caught inbetween the intake and exhaust (heard this problem may happen after doing this upgrade) while I was pulling into a parking lot at the time I shut off my vehicle and pulled on the pedal to release the linkage from being stuck. Believing that this would release the linkage but sadly that was not the case and I should of got out and double checked the linkage was free but I was in a "rush". Once I started the vehicle backup the engine revved very high for a second and I heard the fan blade rub the radiator and then of course all the fluid poured out. After inspection you can see on blade hit the bottom of the radiator and bent and then continued to rip a hole in radiator Question: why do you guys think this happen? I thought maybe it's the build up it had reving so high in park but the motor mounts feel strong. I'll add pics of the blade fan off u can see only one blade hit but this happened in like a matter of second after starting the vehicle back up. It was almost immediately as soon as the vehicle started you could hear the fan grinding. Is there a better fan to buy or should I try to find a fan closest to stock and hope this will never happen again? Really don't want to go electric unless that is highly recommended. New to this old school motor truck scene. I'm 21 but love these older motors Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Here are more pictures of the damage and the engine setup. Everything like the waterpump feels sturdy and when I took off the fan bolts they were very tight. Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Also bad , loose or broken , body or core support mounts or motor mounts will let things move around usually noticed when pulling in parking lots drive ways any place the vehicle has a chance to flex , pick ups sometimes more often than cars because the cab and box being separate you tend to get more flex. And on vehicles with cross flow radiators they are mounted on rubber and they can mo e around some...just something to be aware of. Sent from my SM-T387V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
it has an automatic transmission, so it does not have the original bellhousing mounts that kept the engine and transmission from moving forward/backward. What does it have for engine/transmission mounts? take some pictures a bit lower on the the engine! so we can see what's holding the engine in place.
Obviously, something moved, most likely just for a moment. It's hard to tell from photos but most of the guys replying could probably figure it all out if they could lay eyes and hands on the truck. These older vehicles are often a mix of parts and pieces that are almost but not quite like they came from the factory. It looks like the fan blade tip(s) may have bumped forward to contact the bottom tank and caused a little bit of forward curl and then it was Betty-Bar-The-Door after that. You've been baptized into the club. Fix it and keep the faith, young brother.
Getting back to the linkage --- when changing manifolds, before the engine is fired for any reason, the linkage should be bent & adjusted so that nothing can happen like this.
Well I have been driving the truck for 6 months with really no problem after doing this upgrade. But I'm definitely going to fix the problem there so that can't happen again Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Here are some pics of mounts and tranny cross member. A pic of the truck too, idk if that will help too. Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
You are right. The fan blade hit the bottom of the radiator tank and bent it and yup just made my radiator a new design. Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I'm taking out my motor this week or next weekend and will try and fix anything I notice that is loose or noticeable bad or also anything you guys recommend to change while motor is out to help prevent this from happening again. Also for radiators do you guys recommend a aluminum radiator with 2 core or 3 core? I'm looking at one with 2 core but 1 inch cores or 3 core with a total of 1.65 core area so I figured 2 core has more area which is better. Just let me know because any of your information will help me a lot Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
My first car was a '56 Chevy p/u. When I bought it, it had a stock 235 in it. I immediately pulled that in favor of a 327. I saved the old 235 that was in it. About a year later a neighbor needed an engine for his '48 panel so I gave it to him. He installed it and could not get it running so he asked me to take a look. I leaned over the fender and told him to start the truck. It cranked a few times and started, then went wide open throttle. Next thing I know I hear a loud explosion and shit flying everywhere. A blade came off of the fan hub, went throught the inner fender, creased the outer fender, tore the edge of my Levi's, and landed in the side of a Ford Van across the street. A few years later a good buddy wanted a Chevy 3100 truck. Another buddy had a nice one a was considering selling it so I put them together and a deal was made. 6 months later on the freeway a blade went through the hood. This truck was mint ,original. I was able to TIG a section in for him and all was OK. I could have lost a leg or been killed by the first accident. Upon inspection, both fan hubs had cracks on each fan blade. It was just a matter of time untl they grenaded. CHECK YOUR FANS !!!!
don't worry too much about the core size and numbers...worry more about getting one that was made with the correct angle to put the fan parallel to the core, and with a core that is not set back too far. Be prepared to have to deal with having LESS room between the fan and radiator, with one of the aftermarket aluminum radiators. Just a warning from someone who's had a few of them. Thanks for the pics, that explains it all. Neat way to adapt a 200-4R to an old truck, but not how I would do it...after having done something similar to adapt a big block/th400 to a similar old truck, in my youth. I don't know the correct answer for this puzzle.
How much existing space if between the fan and radiator? Not much I would say. A runaway engine could make a fan blade flex easily enough. I like to see an inch or more space between the fan and radiator for such events. But not too much. Is there a spacer between the fan and water pump?
Get a GMC radiator and support it will place the radiator farther foreward. then you can used a fan shroud. and place a torque chain from the frame to some place near the top of the engine. when your engine torqued over its possible that caused the linkage bind and also allowed the fan blade to get to close and hit the radiator. and binkman is correct fan blades can get metal fatuge. I had one come off stab the battery and put a big dent in the hood.
A fan shroud is a more important factor than how many cores in the radiator. Search this forum for some very comprehensive conversations on that topic. Getting another inch or so between the radiator and fan somehow will give you a better margin of safety and help the fan to draw from every square inch of radiator surface more efficiently (with the shroud). I think I see some rubber biskets under the home-made motor mounts allowing a lot of front/back, side to side flex. The rubber is for dampening NVH but may be too soft for your situation.
the problem with the rubber there is that we can't really tell how they did it..but it looks like it does NOT use the original cupped washers, which will help center the biscuit in the (large) hole in the frame. I'm not surprised that it was able to move as far as it did.
Thanks for all the help. This was done by my cousin and I believe this was the first tranny swap and change he has done. For the fan distance to radiator, I remember it being less than a inch but also read u want to keep it close. Thought I thought bringing it back and getting a shroud would be good but I'm having a hard time finding them. Was looking to see if I could get a short shaft water pump but people say it moves the shafter lower and that means it would hit if I get original fan Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
See if you can find a way to limit how far forward the engine can move, and perhaps move it back as far as possible, also. And don't be surprised if you have clearance problems with a replacement radiator.
Yes the linkage was the direct cause of the radiator getting a nice battle scar. Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Do you know or recommend a site that sells the correct motor mounts that will allow donut to fit in the hole? I know someone said my mounts look homemade and I don't know if they are or not Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
oh, they are home made, that's for sure. The original front mounts for the engine in that truck, allowed the engine to flop around all over the place, if the bellhousing was not mounted to the crossmember, like it originally was. It looks like he did a fairly good job of making it so it would be as loose as it would have been, but it's still not good enough. The original mounts that he took out, would have the hardware that might let you get it more secure. https://www.ebay.com/itm/132497682566?
Past a year already wow, but I ended up fixing this issue shortly after but got so busy to do an update. I ended up swaping the radiator with a new all-aluminum champion radiator and just dropped the radiator about an inch lower to give me the clearance I need and got a fan that was an inch smaller. I haven't had an issue ever since and have been running it like that for a year now, using it as a daily driver for my 45 min commute which I do run into a bit of stop and go traffic, so there arent any heating problems from a smaller fan size. Also, I fixed the linkage sticking issue altering the rod for the dual carb intake.
Yeah should have checked it all but it seemed fine when testing it out and I was just so excited to drive it around that I just went with it. It worked great for two months but then that one day it got caught and since these pedals can disconnect from the accelerator rod it ended up just popping off and I shut the truck off and then when i started it back up it was slight still revving and caused the motor to jump. I eventually ended up fixing that issue just by bending a new rod to fit better so I never have the issue again with the new setup.
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